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As the NFL college draft approaches the anticipation builds across the country for all that are involved; the players, the teams and their fans. Many water cooler conversations include names like Ryan Leaf, Rick Mirer, Cade McNown, Akili Smith and several others as fans shake their heads at the selections from their beloved teams.
Well the New York Jets fan base is no different as they notoriously can share horror stories like no other. Each year at the draft the Jets fan was known for the ” Who?” signs they brought to the draft, or the stylish towel over the head look. Better yet the tossing of the jersey ritual. There are the stories of Johnny Lam Jones, Johnny Mitchell, Kyle Brady over Warren Sapp, Alex Van Dyke over Tony Brackens, Bryan Thomas over Ed Reed…wait Bryan Thomas? Isn’t he one of the cornerstones of the Jets defense now? The fact of the matter is that the NFL draft is one huge crap shoot where there are plenty of misses to go around.  Sure the Jets over the years have selected their share of busts, even legendary figure Bill Parcells had a couple on his belt, but in most cases they are like every other organization. The curious thing about this year with the gang green masses is that there is hope and optimism heading into the draft. All of the negative and sarcastic comments are being replaced with intelligent and well thought out plans on how to improve the team. The idea of the Jets picking a dud is inconceivable in most fans eyes, as the times have changed.
So who exactly changed all of this and why? Well based on the last years draft selections, it appears that the answer is the management combination of Eric Mangini and Mike Tannenbaum. They are the creators of this new optimism. In most eyes their draft last year was very successful and helped obtain good young talent to mix into the current roster. With the progress made last year there is no doubt this year will be the same if not better. Well as a long time season ticket holder I for one I hope this is going to be true but as history dictates know this will not be the case. If you truly analyze the Jets draft last year there were some good, some average and some bad moves just like every other year. Granted with a year under their belt the Jets could learn from their mistakes and formulate a better or different plan that alleviates mistakes but of course they will still happen.
So for as much I love the new found optimism of the Jets fans lets not go throwing away those “Who?” signs yet. In the win now environment of the NFL one year’s success could be the next years failure and a truly successful organization needs to prove itself over several years not just one.
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Parting Shots:
As most of you know I was a strong supporter of the Thomas Jones move and think he will pay huge dividends for the Jets. It will truly help Chad with his play action pass and could open a ton of play for the offense. Welcome to NY TJ!!!
Going to a Jets game this year? Get there early or get ready to bus it! There are rumors the parking is going to be a nightmare and there could be bussing stations set up in Secaucus or others to be bussed to the games. Can you imagine those bus rides post game?